How to Self Learn Basic Landscape Photography from Scratch?

Reading Time: 9 minutes

There’s a photographer in everyone. You need to identify and be dedicated enough.

Suppose you are confused about your Photography and your niche. Then I see myself in you during my starting phase. Photography is a vast subject, and mastering everything at once will not happen.

Learning anything from scratch sounds hardcore at once, but when you make a start, that’s all it takes, The Start!

If you don’t know anything about landscape photography or even Photography, there’s no problem because everybody has to go through that stage for once.

For your say, let me tell you something about my learning – “I had started with blogging about the places I went and how somebody can reach there at a minimal cost. Every time I go somewhere, I take my camera to get the best shot. But, where is the best picture? I used to ask myself! No reply, but the inner voice says, better luck next time.

The images get blurry, out of focus, underexposed, and overexposed. Do you know why?

Because I didn’t know anything about Photography, absolutely nothing, and if I say in other words –

“What will be going to happen when someone hands over a two-wheeler to you, and you didn’t know how to start it” Messed-up right

So, understanding the area is Important before jumping into the field.

That is what I had learned.

okay,

let’s start from scratch then,

What is Landscape Photography?

Landscape Photography is understanding and capturing what nature has to offer to us through our lens, mobile phone, or any other camera device (that’s my understanding)

What is Meant by “What Nature has to offer to us”?

It could be anything from sunrise over the mountains to sunset over a beach. Nature is something that we shouldn’t manipulate much.

We have to connect what our eyes have seen and similarly captured through the devices.

How to Get Started with Scenery Photography?

Getting started with Scenery (Landscape Photo) Photography is Important first and foremost. The rest of the things come afterward.

okay, okay, let’s get there

When you arrive here, you must be eager to learn this area from scratch, right!

Gaining knowledge and implementing it side by side will undoubtedly make improvements.

(Keep reading till the end, I insist you should read in this order only)

10. Things Will Take Time

Since you are learning by yourself. So, consider yourself the teacher and the student who will teach himself and correct himself.

Suppose you had made a mindset that you will become a pro and rock the world a few months later. But, unfortunately, the reality is that it will not happen, and you will start losing interest.

Keep yourself disciplined, and giving up would not speed anything at all.

Staying disciplined and generating curiosity every day to improve and learn will keep you going forward.

9. Practice Without a Camera

The camera will not be with you every time you go out in the metro.

Make up in your mind that if you had a camera in your hand while traveling in the metro. Then, what should be the Aperture and shutter speed to capture a platform?

Two situation –

1. How you are going to capture the depth of a platform. Starting from the foreground to every corner of your frame to make it lit sharp ( consider Empty platform).
2. How you are going to capture the same situation on a crowded platform.

When you get your answer, try to google whether you got this correct or not. If not, what should get done.

Or

Try to bring the camera one day with you to the same platform, and now click with the mind you had made without the camera. If you get the wrong settings, find the correct answer, and keep experimenting the same until you are satisfied with your shot.

Note – Be careful while clicking pictures in a crowded place. Nobody likes to get Clicked by a stranger.

8. To Begin, You Don’t Need a High-End DSLR

That is the biggest myth that starting from scratch encounters. Purchasing a high-end and expensive camera will not make anyone pro and master in Landscape photography or any other niche.

Let me quote a message which changed my same thought –

“First, Identify why you need to upgrade your camera, how your current camera is becoming a barrier in your photography skills. If you had identified it, then you are good to go with an upgrade – Bobby Joshi (Landscape Photographer)

You must remind yourself of this message whenever you see others with a better camera, and you think that you want to upgrade as well.

First comes your Important skills. So let that badass skill talk first.

Okay, I hope this point will keep banging your head until you identify your barrier.

Right?

7. Turn Back and Say Wow

Let me go straight if you are not happy with what you had shot. But, then, don’t expect what the others will say for you.

Click a picture, playback, and if you had liked it, you would be excited. It could get seen on your face. But, moreover, it will be going to make you happy from the inside.

If you didn’t like it, stand there and see what went wrong. Why was the picture you just clicked don’t deserve a “wow” from you?

Keep trying and clicking until you become satisfied with your shot images.

If you skip that time afterward, you will go home and forget everything.

The chances are high that you will start comparing yourself to others that why they have got something excellent than me, is this because of the camera? You will start doubting yourself, and the horror doubting yourself story goes on and on.

6. Change Your Perspective

Every field requires a perspective that should convey a strong message or a strong feeling. The person on the other side, the viewer, should feel that he is with you and living that moment with you.

If every picture you are going to take from the same standing eye-level perspective. Then you will start getting a little bored &”Photography is not about getting bored” Make things interesting for yourself.

So, make the focus clear that you will be changing the perspective in every shot, and it sometimes depends upon the situation.

This way, you will understand making your landscape photography Interesting.

5. Practice Daily

To Practice Landscape pictures, you don’t need to go anywhere. Staying indoors at home will help you a lot rather than outside.

You must be thinking that this guy is talking about Landscape Photography and wanting us to stay inside? How can this will improve?

Let me share my own experience,

I used to think that for improving my Landscape photos. I needed to be present in the mountain, river, forest, environment. And I will be going to master it.

And without a doubt, I was wrong. When I see my shots, I used to tell, not even one well composed and a good picture.

If you want to start learning landscapes compositions you start from your home

I realized that staying in that environment is not very important, but strong the basics and skills is a big task.

Staying Indoors is my go-to advice at the starting until the basics are understood.

To practice daily, choose a room of your house and practice keeping in mind the landscape environment. Let’s assume your room is a big cottage above the mountains. Try to get everything in focus while learning the combination of the golden triangle (Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO).

Shoot at different points, at different Aperture & different Shutter Speed. Look where you went wrong, correct the errors, and keep practicing.

It would help if you didn’t make the mistakes I made in my starting phase.

• In other words, “Practice a lot at cricket nets daily, and when you think you are ready, just go into the field and rock it”

Staying home will eventually save a lot of money for traveling and other expenses, and you will also save.

Trust me

4. Giving More Emphasis on Understanding Aperture for Wider Depth of Field

Understanding the Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO is Important. But the topic here is landscape photography & making depth sharp should be the way to go.

The role of a landscape photographer is to present an image with utmost sharpness, and Aperture will play a significant role.

Remember, Aperture decides how small and big your camera opening will be?

A smaller Aperture opening, let’s assume, f/22 makes the opening of the lens small that only a handful of light is allowed to enter. On the other hand, a larger Aperture opening f/2.6 allows more light to enter.

The Aperture controls the depth of your image, and a small Aperture opening brings more comprehensive depth to your shot of every object in your frame.

The Larger Aperture opening will make images more blurry which we do not want as Landscape Photographers. However, this is a valuable asset in Portraits because we need a blurry background and a sharp focus on our subject.

That is why more emphasis on a wide depth of field is required.

3. Starting with Auto Mode

If you don’t know about Auto Mode, then “Auto is a camera mode where the camera decides everything, and you just have to point and shoot.”

Starting with Auto mode for landscape photography should be your go-to preference at first. However, you will be beginning and learning by yourself. Therefore, Auto Mode will give you an idea of how the different camera functions work.

If you are going out with your family and friends for a vacation, carry the camera along and start shooting in Auto mode. Try to focus on multiple subjects like mountains, rivers, trees, or anything in your surroundings.

Come back home and understand how the camera had captured this scene. For example, you might see the values like 1/60, f3.5, ISO-400.

2. Understand Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO

In the last point, I had listed some values. Understanding these values should be your utmost priority.

In a one-liner, I will be going to tell you what these three are –

• Aperture decides your camera opening, the bigger the hole (mean less f-number), the lighter it will allow to enter, and vice-versa.
• Shutter Speed It decides that for how long your Aperture remains open (the slower shutter speed will allow more light to enter and vice-versa.
• ISO The sensitivity of light to the sensor (A high ISO value will add noise to the image)

As you can see, it’s all about balancing the light from different functions and capturing the photo.

You should master these three things to make a strong base for Landscape Photography or any type.

Also Read, And the Best Shot Goes…to Spectacular Firework Photos?

1. Understanding Your Camera

I hope as a kid you remembered that excitement when you bought a new toy and took control of it. You leave that toy until it becomes non-functional.

Remember right?

The same thing you have to do with your camera here. But don’t go beyond the extent that it becomes non-functional because the camera wear & tear will hurt you as anything ever did.

Try to go into the menu and find out what buttons you have there and how they can help you in different situations. You got a manual sheet with your camera explaining all the functions in the camera, but hardly anyone sees it. Try to maintain an eye on the manual sheet as well.

okay then,

You had practiced a lot, then headed straight to the field. But, being an adventure & landscape photo enthusiast, you wanted to capture some stunning images. Then Bir Billing in Himachal might excite you.

Also Read, 5 Genuine Ways to Use Old Photos to Your Advantage

Conclusion

These are the points that I thought were necessary for self-learning the basics of Landscape Photography from scratch.

I am not a master of Landscape Photography, but I have been through this stage. So this is the medium that allows me to share my thoughts and past experiences. So that others will learn.

Also, this was my first photography-related article. I hope you had liked it and will be coming up with more such articles.

Things should go like this – keep learning ➡️ teach others = You will remember twice.

I would not say that you don’t make any mistakes after reading and practicing. However, if you are not making mistakes, you might not improve.

Please share and follow this blog if you find the article helpful.

Also, let me know if you got some other points on starting landscape photography from scratch.

Until then, see you on the roads

Keep learning and exploring